The rise of theranostics and new molecular imaging technologies are creating new opportunities for clinicians and researchers. In this episode of The Imaging Wire Show, we talked to Stephen Lokitz, PhD, of the Center for Molecular Imaging and Therapy (CMIT) about the center’s unique offerings.
Venture capital funding of medical imaging AI developers continues to slow. A new report from Signify Research shows that funding declined 19% in 2023, and is off to a slow start in 2024 as well.
Signify tracks VC funding on an annual basis, and previous reports from the UK firm showed that AI investment peaked in 2021 and has been declining ever since.
The report’s author, Signify analyst Ellie Baker, sees a variety of factors behind the decline, chief among them macroeconomic headwinds such as tighter access to capital due to higher interest rates.
Total Funding Value Drops – Total funding for 2023 came in at $627M, down 19% from $771M in 2022. Funding hit a peak in 2021 at $1.1B.
Deal Volume Declines – The number of deals in 2023 fell to 35, down 30% from 50 the year before. Deal volume peaked in 2021 at 63. And 2024 isn’t off to a great start, with only five deals recorded in the first quarter.
Deals Are Getting Bigger – Despite the declines, the average deal size grew last year, to $19M, up 23% versus $15M in 2022.
HeartFlow Rules the Roost – HeartFlow raised the most in 2023, fueled by a massive $215M funding round in April 2023, while Cleerly held the crown in 2022.
US Funding Dominates – On a geographic basis, funding is shifting away from Europe (-46%) and Asia-Pacific (no 2023 deals) and back to the Americas, which generated over 70% of the funding raised last year. This may be due to the US providing faster technology uptake and more routes to reimbursement.
Early Bird Gets the Worm – Unlike past years in which later-stage funding dominated, 2024 has seen a shift to early-stage deals with seed funding and Series A rounds, such as AZmed’s $16M deal in February 2024.
$100M Club Admits New Members – Signify’s exclusive “$100M Club” of AI developers has expanded to include Elucid and RapidAI.
The Takeaway
Despite the funding drop, Signify still sees a healthy funding environment for AI developers ($627M is definitely a lot of money). That said, AI software developers are going to have to make a stronger case to investors regarding revenue potential and a path to ROI.
The Advantages of CloudPACS
What are the advantages of CloudPACS? Speed, reliability, and security, with no latency. Learn how Visage Imaging’s Visage 7 PACS was built around the cloud from the ground up in this white paper.
Why Do Radiology Practices Choose Medality?
From improving clinical quality and efficiency to reducing CME compliance costs and administrative burdens, there are a variety of reasons why radiology practices choose Medality. Learn about some of them today.
The Wire
News from ISMRM 2024: The ISMRM 2024 meeting convened today in Singapore, and a Monday morning presentation drew an intriguing connection between MRI accessibility and poverty in the US. Regions with higher poverty rates had less access to MRI; regions with more people of color and higher poverty rates also had fewer radiologists to population. Researchers proposed that low-field MRI offers a solution that could even out healthcare disparities thanks to its portability and cost-effectiveness. ISMRM 2024 continues through May 9.
Canon’s AI-Powered CT Milestone: Canon Medical Systems completed the first US installation of Aquilion Serve SP with Instinx, a new AI-powered CT platform the company debuted in 2022 and showcased at RSNA 2023. The Instinx software is designed to improve radiologic technologist efficiency by automating CT workflow through features such as automated protocoling, one-click patient positioning, and remote scan support. The milestone system was installed at Steinberg Diagnostic Medical Imaging in Las Vegas.
Lung Screening Moves Ahead Down Under: Add Australia to the list of countries moving forward with population-based CT lung cancer screening programs. The federal government has introduced a bill to create a National Lung Cancer Screening Program that would provide low-dose CT scans to high-risk Australians ages 50-70 every two years, with eligibility based on criteria such as 30-pack-year smoking histories. If the legislation passes, screening is expected to begin in July 2025.
Blackford Adds Medcognetics to Platform: Blackford’s list of AI partners on its Blackford Platform continues to grow. The UK company has allied with MedCognetics to bring that company’s CogNet-AI-MT mammography AI algorithm to Platform. CogNet AI-MT detects early manifestations of cancer, and the algorithm has been trained on data from around the world, making it well-suited to operate in populations of various ethnicities. The new deal is the latest in a string of alliances Blackford has signed recently.
Lead Garments and MSK Pain: A new survey of radiographers/radiologic technologists who use lead garments for radiation protection found that a substantial percentage reported MSK pain. Researchers surveyed 194 radiographers in Saudi Arabia, finding that 29% reported experiencing pain and another 25% reported discomfort. Pain was most commonly reported in the neck (29%) and lower back (26%); smaller percentages reported lower back pain that was severe (7.7%) or very severe (1.5%). The results confirm recent research on the need for more ergonomic radiation protection garments.
Firm Raises $13M for POCUS AI: Israeli AI startup AISAP raised $13M in seed funding to further develop its Point Of Care Assisted Diagnosis (POCAD) software for analyzing point-of-care ultrasound scans. POCAD enables non-expert physicians to understand POCUS scans, providing “urgency scores” that help prioritize cases as well as scores that measure scan quality for operators. POCAD also provides diagnoses of specific valves in the cardiovascular system. The software is being evaluated at Sheba Medical Center in Israel.
Making Radiology More Diverse: Efforts to address radiology’s diversity problem by attracting more women and underrepresented minorities to US training programs are producing mixed results. In a study in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology, researchers reported that in diagnostic radiology from 2016 to 2021 the number of female trainees edged up (26% to 26.7%), while underrepresented minorities grew faster (6.9% to 11.3%). Female representation in diagnostic radiology training programs remains far below the proportion of women overall entering medical school (51% in 2017).
Nuclear Medicine Firms Partner: Gamma camera developer Spectrum Dynamics Medical and Hermes Medical Solutions have partnered to integrate their nuclear medicine hardware and software. Spectrum is making Hermes’ quantitative analysis and image processing and review software available to users of its digital Veritron-CT SPECT/CT scanner; the deal also includes dosimetry applications for theranostics.
NewVue Signs InsiteOne: Radiology workflow software developer NewVue continues to generate momentum. Hot off its distribution deal with Electromek Diagnostic Systems, the company has now signed on VNA provider InsiteOne as a reseller. InsiteOne will be able to offer to its customers NewVue’s EmpowerSuite worklist/workflow orchestrator and command center, which gives radiologists a curated worklist based on an algorithm that incorporates their preferences and that balances business and clinical priorities.
MR-Directed Neurotherapy Launched: Magnus Medical has officially launched a new treatment system for major depressive disorder that uses data from structural and functional MRI to target areas of the brain for neurostimulation. The company’s SAINT system directs neurostimulation to brain areas in people with depression who have been resistant to other therapies. Magnus also received a New Technology Add-on Payment from CMS, making users eligible for NTAP payments up to $12,675 per hospital inpatient treatment.
Fujifilm’s OPIE Transducer: Fujifilm launched a new transducer for on-pump intracardiac echocardiography (OPIE), calling it the first transducer for the evaluation of ventricular thickness during septal myectomy surgery. The new OPIE transducer allows for real-time measurements during surgeries, representing a major change from a historical reliance on pre-surgical transesophageal echocardiography.
Physicians Warm Up to GenAI: A Wolters Kluwer survey showed that physicians are quickly warming up to generative AI, with 68% reporting they’ve changed their views over the last year and are now more likely to think the technology will be beneficial for healthcare. Of the 100 physicians surveyed, 81% say GenAI will improve interactions with patients, and over half believe it will reduce time spent not focused on patients by over 20%. A surprising 89% said transparency into training data and methods would be a deciding factor.
Fully Automated AI LV Assessment
Read how a new study showed that Us2.ai’s echo AI solution had good to excellent agreement between AI and experts’ assessments of LV volumes and ejection fraction in contrast echocardiograms.
AI for Fracture Detection
New AI solutions like Gleamer’s BoneView tool are enabling radiologists to detect hard-to-find fractures on X-ray. Check out this edition of The Imaging Wire Show to learn more about the company and its value proposition.
Monitoring AI Solutions in Healthcare
Clinical applications for healthcare AI are rapidly expanding, but many barriers are still preventing widespread adoption. This Nuance post explores a critical set of questions: what happens after an AI model goes into production, and how to know if it continues to perform as expected?
The Resource Wire
Visit United Imaging at ISMRM 2024: If you’re attending ISMRM 2024 in Singapore this week, be sure to visit with United Imaging in booth A18 to explore their latest advances in MRI technology, including a lunch symposium on Thursday May 9 on ultra-high-field MRI at 5T.
Enterprise Imaging on Your Terms: Meet your radiology, cardiology and all other imaging needs – on your own terms – with imaging solutions from Merge by Merative. Learn more about their award-winning solutions and request a demo today.
Why AI in Radiology is a Game Changer: What are the benefits of AI in radiology? Quite simply, they are game-changing and will drive improved hospital efficiency, according to this article that features Blackford Analysis CEO Ben Panter.
Overcoming a Complex Image Exchange Workflow: Guadalupe Regional Medical Centre (GRMC) and Methodist Hospital implemented a PocketHealth Community Gateway that saved over 1,700 staff hours. Read how they streamlined bidirectional image exchange, improved operational efficiencies and ensured seamless continuity of care for patients at both sites.
The Complete In-Office MRI Solution: Looking for a way to improve your orthopedic practice’s service to existing patients while attracting new ones and adding ancillary revenues? Discover how the MAGNETOM Free.Max MRI scanner from Siemens Healthineers is the complete, in-office MRI solution.
Benchmarking AI – Building an AI Ecosystem: What are the best ways to deploy and optimize AI for radiology? Learn how by attending this May 8 webinar hosted by Bayer and featuring Lauren Nicola, MD, and James Blackwood on the value of AI in healthcare.
Navigating Neurology Disease States: Neurological diseases are a growing challenge worldwide, and time is of the essence in detection and treatment. In this downloadable e-book, learn how technologies like TeraRecon’s Neurology Suite are available to support physicians across multiple neurological conditions.
An Update from Intelerad: Since joining Intelerad as CEO in 2023, Jordan Bazinsky has set the company on a course to address some of the major challenges facing radiology and healthcare today. Hear his thoughts in this episode of The Imaging Wire Show.
Radiology Automation Simplified: A recent statement by top radiology societies states that there should be close collaboration between the developers and users of AI. Find out in this video how CARPL.ai worked with University Hospitals, Cleveland for AI testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Give Your Patients the Experience They Want: Empower patients to take control of their healthcare journey by giving them mobile access to their records and images with Clearpath, the world’s first digital fulfillment platform for records and films. Book a demo today.
The UK’s Lung Cancer Screening Rollout: The UK has launched a targeted lung cancer screening program to improve lung cancer outcomes through earlier detection. Learn how DeepHealth’s Saige Lung is the preferred AI solution in this case study.
Clearly Superior Chest X-Ray Imaging: Chest X-rays can help identify many abnormalities, but interpretation is often difficult due to obstructing bone, patient positioning, and image quality. Book a demo to see how Riverain’s ClearRead Xray with Clear Visual Intelligence provides a clearly superior view of the chest.
Clarity, Speed, and Confidence for MRI Efficiency: Radiologists have used a variety of methods to improve efficiency, but many of these methods come with drawbacks. Find out in this article how SpinTech MRI takes on the challenge of MRI efficiency with its STAGE software.
The Importance of Simplified Data to Research: The availability of high-quality data is indispensable for driving research advancements that can improve patient care. In this article from Enlitic, learn how standardized, searchable data can usher in a new era of precision medicine and personalized healthcare.
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